So after 2 years of applying, interviewing, fulfilling a seemingly endless series of medical requirements, and months and months of waiting, on Thursday November 18th, 2010, I received my invitation from the Peace Corps to work in NGO Development in Morocco!! This was my first choice country and I am humbled - truly in awe - and immensely grateful to have been granted my dearest wish for this coveted spot.
I've been assigned to a rural location in the Tensift region of Morocco where I won't necessarily have running water, electricity or internet. I will be working to improve and sustain the quality of services local NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) and CBAs (Community Based Associations) provide to their constituents and communities. I will act as a catalyst of a capacity building process by working directly with the organizations to assess their profile and design and co-facilitate training programs.
Although this is different from anything I have ever done, I believe I can use my problem solving skills and ability to connect with people of many different backgrounds and cultural belief systems to work to create change and build international peace. This is especially important today at a time of heightened tension between Islam and Christianity on a global scale. By working together to build a better world, based on mutual respect and friendship, we can and we will find our common ground!
I can't wait to become a part of this!
To find yourself reach beyond yourself...
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Cross-Cultural Experiences Essay for Peace Corps
In some senses, for me the unfamiliar is familiar. By the time I started college in 1994, I had lived in 15 homes in 6 states and one foreign country. At the age of 8 while living in Saudi Arabia, I knew my parents could be executed for hosting Mass in our home. At 10, I was making friends 7,000 miles away in Minnesota. At 12, fascinated locals on the streets of Bangkok would touch my white-blond hair as I passed. At 17, I was adjusting to the language and customs of my host family while on an immersion exchange in Germany. In my life, place had become both a driving force and a blurry backdrop.
So when I moved to DC for law school and decided to put down roots, I was in unfamiliar territory. Not only was it my first experience with geographic permanency, it was my first time living in a city, fully supporting myself economically, and trying to make it in a new and uncertain career. I quickly found that the skills I had relied upon to deal with perpetual upheaval growing up – keeping a journal every night to remain in touch with myself, nurturing my passion for ballet, copious correspondence with cousins and friends – were suddenly inadequate.
Faced with the unknown, I began the journey within. Over the next few years, through a painful but wondrous process of self examination, I discovered intimacy with myself, and with others. In my heart, I found horizons broader than those of any globe. I found freedom and power in knowing myself and owning my beliefs. I found the courage to accept myself, to face my mistakes, and to build long-term commitments to people. I found peace and joy, and began to discover miracles all around me. I finally felt I belonged in the world I had seen so much of.
I found strength in these newfound inner resources. Burdened with massive student loans, I worked long hours at unfulfilling work but found endless enrichment in the connections I made there. I fought for balance by nurturing my dreams: I danced and sang, volunteered, traveled whenever I could, and discovered a new love of photography. To build for the future, I bought a condo in a transitional neighborhood. I was mugged 3 months later, but came through the experience empowered, my faith in humanity intact, easily trusting another stranger a few months later to escort me to safety.
They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I believe it’s not what makes you stronger that matters, but what broadens your capacity to love. My nomadic life taught me to see beyond superficialities and accept people of all races and cultures. Being rooted has given me the tools to connect without losing sight of uniqueness. I have come to truly understand in my heart, in the words of R.W. Emerson, that “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”
So when I moved to DC for law school and decided to put down roots, I was in unfamiliar territory. Not only was it my first experience with geographic permanency, it was my first time living in a city, fully supporting myself economically, and trying to make it in a new and uncertain career. I quickly found that the skills I had relied upon to deal with perpetual upheaval growing up – keeping a journal every night to remain in touch with myself, nurturing my passion for ballet, copious correspondence with cousins and friends – were suddenly inadequate.
Faced with the unknown, I began the journey within. Over the next few years, through a painful but wondrous process of self examination, I discovered intimacy with myself, and with others. In my heart, I found horizons broader than those of any globe. I found freedom and power in knowing myself and owning my beliefs. I found the courage to accept myself, to face my mistakes, and to build long-term commitments to people. I found peace and joy, and began to discover miracles all around me. I finally felt I belonged in the world I had seen so much of.
I found strength in these newfound inner resources. Burdened with massive student loans, I worked long hours at unfulfilling work but found endless enrichment in the connections I made there. I fought for balance by nurturing my dreams: I danced and sang, volunteered, traveled whenever I could, and discovered a new love of photography. To build for the future, I bought a condo in a transitional neighborhood. I was mugged 3 months later, but came through the experience empowered, my faith in humanity intact, easily trusting another stranger a few months later to escort me to safety.
They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I believe it’s not what makes you stronger that matters, but what broadens your capacity to love. My nomadic life taught me to see beyond superficialities and accept people of all races and cultures. Being rooted has given me the tools to connect without losing sight of uniqueness. I have come to truly understand in my heart, in the words of R.W. Emerson, that “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”
Motivational Statement for Peace Corps
I want to volunteer for the Peace Corps because it weaves together everything I have worked for and everything I want to be. With its mission of promoting peace in the world by sending its volunteers on wild adventures and asking them to stretch themselves to their limit in hopes of empowering others, the Peace Corps represents to me the ultimate quest of each human being and the ultimate professional, spiritual and personal goal of my life. After years of working to attain financial independence, reaching within to truly know myself, and discovering a great capacity to connect with others, I am now poised to expand and deepen this quest of empowerment. At this juncture in my life, all signs point me in one direction: the Peace Corps.
I want to build skills for connecting with people that transcend cultural and economic divides. In my pro bono work, I counseled and advocated for immigrants with employment and family law problems. I found immense fulfillment in using my analytical, problem solving and listening skills to lead clients through discrimination, discharge, wage denial, and custody and child support disputes. I want to use these skills as a Peace Corps volunteer to empower others by working within their circumstances to improve their situation. I believe this experience would broaden my perspective and enhance my ability upon my return to work in individual advocacy and universal policy change on behalf of women, minorities, employees and consumers.
I hunger for new personal and spiritual challenges. After a lifetime of journeying, I have been stationary for ten years. I have found strength and peace in belonging, but find that one’s sense of self can shrink and calcify if too closely tied to the place, people and work that have become familiar. It’s time to stretch and deepen my understanding of myself by shedding material possessions and learning what I can about what is really important in life from those who are simply struggling to survive. I want to rediscover that universal human spirit that transcends culture and economic circumstances and connects us all yet gives us each a unique purpose. I want to empty myself to find what it is I have to give.
I long for adventure. To discover new lands and to live immersed in a vastly different culture would be a thrill beyond all my imagining. It would give me rich and endless material for writing and photography, two of my other passions. To find a way to integrate who I am into a new world that has different ways of understanding itself would open my eyes to unforeseen wonders both within and without. I would find new ways of connecting with people and build new skills to make a real difference in people’s lives. Through all I have worked for, and all I have been given, I have been empowered. Now, it’s time for the ultimate adventure. It’s time to focus full-time on empowering others and in the process, transform my life.
I want to build skills for connecting with people that transcend cultural and economic divides. In my pro bono work, I counseled and advocated for immigrants with employment and family law problems. I found immense fulfillment in using my analytical, problem solving and listening skills to lead clients through discrimination, discharge, wage denial, and custody and child support disputes. I want to use these skills as a Peace Corps volunteer to empower others by working within their circumstances to improve their situation. I believe this experience would broaden my perspective and enhance my ability upon my return to work in individual advocacy and universal policy change on behalf of women, minorities, employees and consumers.
I hunger for new personal and spiritual challenges. After a lifetime of journeying, I have been stationary for ten years. I have found strength and peace in belonging, but find that one’s sense of self can shrink and calcify if too closely tied to the place, people and work that have become familiar. It’s time to stretch and deepen my understanding of myself by shedding material possessions and learning what I can about what is really important in life from those who are simply struggling to survive. I want to rediscover that universal human spirit that transcends culture and economic circumstances and connects us all yet gives us each a unique purpose. I want to empty myself to find what it is I have to give.
I long for adventure. To discover new lands and to live immersed in a vastly different culture would be a thrill beyond all my imagining. It would give me rich and endless material for writing and photography, two of my other passions. To find a way to integrate who I am into a new world that has different ways of understanding itself would open my eyes to unforeseen wonders both within and without. I would find new ways of connecting with people and build new skills to make a real difference in people’s lives. Through all I have worked for, and all I have been given, I have been empowered. Now, it’s time for the ultimate adventure. It’s time to focus full-time on empowering others and in the process, transform my life.
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